is beyond our strength. But between us there is a
nameless shadow, reminiscent of that awful night in the Arafura Sea,
when death came very near to us. And in my ears there is always the echo
of that voice which I heard by the shores of Java when the misty
borderland between life and death seemed clear.

My story is told. I cannot prove its truth, for there is much in it to
which I am the only living witness. I cannot prove whether Herbert
Brande was a scientific magician possessed of _all_ the powers he
claimed, or merely a mad physicist in charge of a new and terrible
explosive; nor whether Edward Grey ever started for Labrador. The
burthen of the proof of this last must be borne by others--unless it be
left to Grey himself to show whether my evidence is false or true. If
it be left to him, a few years will decide the issue.

I am content to wait.

THE END.

LONDON: DIGBY, LONG AND CO., PUBLISHERS, 18 BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET
STREET, E.C.

ROBERT CROMIE'S BOOKS

_OPINIONS OF THE PRESS_

A PLUNGE INTO SPACE

WITH PREFACE BY JULES VERNE

_Times._--The story is written with considerable liveliness, the
scientific jargon is sufficiently perplexing, and the characters are
sketched with some humour.

_Chronicle._--A strange, weird, mysterious story that holds the reader
spell-bound, from the first page to the last.

_Athenaeum._--Mr. Cromie's Utopia is charming, and the quasi-scientific
detail of the expedition is given with so much integrity that we hardly
wonder at the marvellous results accomplished.

_Truth._--A very clever description of a flight through space to Mars
... the book is extremely interesting and suggestive; especially,
perhaps, where it attacks the theories of Mr. George and "Looking
Backwards."

_Court Journal._--Mr. Robert Cromie's remarkably clever and entertaining
volume is told with much of the vivid fancy of a Jules Verne--with
remarkable picturesqueness, and the experiences of mortals in Mars are
described with considerable humour.

_Review of Reviews._--An unquestionably interesting story. The
adventures of the hero and his friends are in no small degree thrilling.

_Glasgow Herald._--The imagination is brilliant, the scientific details
are skilfully worked in, the dialogues and descriptions are lively and
interesting, and the pictures of Martian life and scenery are
remarkable--a decidedly clever book.

FOR ENGLAND'S SAKE

_Academy._--There is not a dull page